Celebrating IDAHOBIT 2021

 
 

IDAHOBIT (International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia & Transphobia) is a day to activate, educate and change the world.

And according to LGBTQIA+ youth organisation Minus18:

  • 75% of LGBTQIA+ young people experience some form of discrimination

  • 77% of Trans and Gender Diverse people report being discriminated against in the past 12 months

  • 39% of LGBTQIA+ people have experienced depression in the past 12 months, compared to 6.2% of the general population

For our team at The Push, today we are hitting pause on our work to reflect and have a conversation about how we can better support and elevate the voices of young LGBTQIA+ people across our community. We know that as a youth music organisation, we can play an important role in ensuring all young LGBTQIA+ artists, industry practitioners and audiences can be safe and supported at our all-ages music events and programs.

I encourage all our all-ages events teams and community of young people across Australia to do the same and have a discussion about what you’re doing now, and what you can do better to ensure your events and activities are safe and inclusive for all LGBTQIA+ young people into the future.

Some super simple, but effective things you can put in place for your next all-ages event include:

  • Making sure LGBTQIA+ young people are represented and supported to have their voices heard in your all-ages events team

  • Programming representative line-ups that include LGBTQIA+ artists 

  • Providing gender-free bathrooms at your venue

  • Offering stickers for attendees to display their name and pronouns

  • Ensuring all marketing and communications detail that your event is queerphobia-free

  • Providing LGBTQIA+ inclusion training and development opportunities for all staff and crew working on your event

  • Making sure that all attendees know that if they don’t want their photo taken, that’s okay

  • Having trained youth workers present to make sure everyone can feel safe and supported

For more information on IDAHOBIT and how you can better support young LGBTQIA+ young people in your communities, check out idahobit.org.au.

Kate Duncan
CEO, The Push

 
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